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The view from the top of the grandstand on Sunday morning was somewhat depressing . Just a few hours before , a record breaking crowd of 23,284 paid spectators had jammed this tremendous arena to see the greatest Horse Show of them all . . . the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration . Sitting amid the mass of discarded programs , hot dog wrappers , drink bottles and cans , one could not help but ponder the grandeur of this show and its attraction . From our view atop the press box , we could see the complete facility . Fifty-five acres of property comprise , the Celebration grounds and what used to be wide open spaces is now crowded with new stables . Just behind the clump of trees on the north side of the grounds we could see a few of the remaining camper trailers . A whisp of smoke was rising in the still morning air as the aroma of country ham slowly drifted across the show grounds .
From time to time we could hear the angry commands of a trainer or groom trying to get a tired horse in a trailer or truck . We could hear the whinny of a horse from the east end as his feed was being put in the manger . His call was echoed from stall to stall in the near deserted bam area . From the back end of the show grounds we could hear the roar of a diesel engine as black smoke billowed toward the sky . “ Clop . . . clop . . . clop ”, the echo of horses hooves on the gravel drive could be heard as a trainer headed toward the practice ring to make one last effort to sell a horse before he headed home .
A truck pulled up to the entrance gate and a crew of workmen began to gather . The clean-up appeared to be a gigantic task as debris was scattered far and near within the stadium . The chairs in the box seats had to be folded and stacked and put away for another year and a reluctant crew set about this task .
All of this was the aftermath of a Tennessee tradition . A tribute to one of the greatest breeds of American horsedom . A salute to the heritage of the Tennessee Walking ^0r5e ' ( Continued on page 18 )